‘The standard width and pitch of seats are changing as people are getting a bit bigger, wider and taller than they were 40 to 50 years ago,’ he said.

Under the new system passengers do not pay for a seat but pay a fixed price per kilogram, which varies according to the length of the route. Customers must type in their weight and the weight of their baggage into the online booking section of the airline’s website. They are then weighed again on scales at the airport, to check that they weren’t fibbing online.

A spokesman for Samoa Tourism said he believed that the policy would also help with safety standards.

‘When you’re only fitting eight to 12 people in these aircraft and you’ve got some bigger Samoans getting on, you do need to weigh them and distribute that weight evenly throughout the aircraft, to make sure everyone’s safe,’ he said.

‘At the end of the day, I don’t care who they’re weighing or how they’re weighing them as long as it’s safe.’

Analysts believe other airlines around the world are likely to follow suit, especially as the rising weight of populations adds to fuel costs. Some airlines in America have already begun forcing passengers who cannot fit in a single seat to buy two tickets.

Samoa Air, which operates BN2A Islander and Cessna 172 aircraft, flies domestically and last week began connecting to American Samoa.